The 20 Best PlayStation Games

It's the console that made gaming cool, apparently - though it's still hard to really say "sitting around in your pants all day watching the digital backside of a superpowered man as you shoot endless waves of alien beasts in the face" is cool, per se...

Still, the original PlayStation is a true legend of gaming; one of the best consoles ever released, and with one of the widest selections of ten-out-of-ten games on offer. Here are 20 of the best.

Tomb Raider 2

Where the original game broke new ground, the sequel took Lara Croft to new heights - perfecting the formula.

Also you could drive a boat around Venice, which was seriously cool.

Silent Bomber

A relative unknown on this list, Silent Bomber was perhaps one of the most unfairly-overlooked games on the PlayStation.

Decidedly old school and offering some fine arcade action, we still await the day it's re-released... somewhere. Anywhere.

Metal Gear Solid

Oh, Metal Gear Solid, let us count the ways in which we love thee.

Solid Snake's name might still make people snigger, but the game has held up incredibly well over the years.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3

The Tony Hawk's series came back recently, but really should have stayed in the past. Really.

This is especially true when you look at the stupendously excellent third game, which totally perfected the skateboarding recipe. We're still proud of our grind record.

Final Fantasy VII

There's still an argument going on as to which is the best of these role-playing games on PlayStation - but for us it has to be number VII (there was a vote).

It introduced so many to the Japanese RPG model, had so many unique ideas and such a creative setting. The nostalgia is strong in this one. Good thing there's a remake in the works.

Wipeout 3

Yet another PlayStation sequel where the third game nailed the formula perfectly.

While the common claim is Wipeout 2097 was the best in the series, we're going with the third: it was more confident, competent and com- fun. Sure, we broke some controllers trying to beat it, but the satisfaction of maxing every course was unparalleled.

Parappa the Rapper

Kick, punch, it's all in the mind. If any game gave us all a mantra to live by, it's Parappa the Rapper's "I gotta believe!"

Why there hasn't been another of this dog-rapping Simon Says-'em-up since the lone sequel and guitar-shredding spin-off, we will never understand.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Castlevania has been around pretty much since videogames were a thing to really care about, but it was a series perfected back on the PlayStation.

Symphony of the Night is so very-bloody good, it holds up insanely well even to this day - and it still looks great, too.

Spyro the Dragon

While he might be a forgotten secondary element to Skylanders these days, Spyro's first (and second, and third) adventure on PlayStation was an exercise in joyful creativity and pure platforming fun. Also dragons.

Tekken 3

Punching people never felt as good as it did in Tekken 3. When it finally arrived on PlayStation it felt even better. Why? Well, because it was so close to the arcade version - better in many ways. It blew the minds of everyone who played it.

Just don't pick Eddy, please. Cheese merchant he is.

WWF Smackdown! 2: Know Your Role

When the WWF/E was at its height of popularity, along came a game to do the TV show justice.

Playing through career mode with three other friends was one of the gaming highlights of the entire PlayStation generation, no doubt.

Syphon Filter

The image here is of an international superspy called Gabe Logan dispassionately electrocuting an enemy combatant with such intensity that he has set on fire.

Syphon Filter allowed you to do this - actively encouraged you, in fact. It was a very strange, very good game.

Tenchu: Stealth Assassins

There was a period in the late nineties where pretty much every game had to have some element of stealth in it. Some were great, some were awful.

Tenchu was both great and unique, in that it didn't just rip off Metal Gear Solid. Instead you got to be a badass ninja, sneaking through the shadows and executing your targets with style and precision.

Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee

Who didn't play at least the Abe's Oddysee demo? It seems everyone took the talkative Abe through his paces at one point or another on PlayStation.

The puzzle-platformer was gorgeous, funny and challenging, so it's no surprise why we all had a go. Also you could fart, which was funny. And still is.

Resident Evil 2

Where the original game went for a slower-paced, haunted house vibe, Resident Evil 2 ramped everything up a considerable number of notches.

More zombies, more guns, more action, more terrifying bastards hunting you down: it had everything. It took almost a decade before it was bettered, and even then it was by the very same series, with Resident Evil 4.

Silent Hill

The fog might have been because the PlayStation couldn't handle drawing an entire town on your screen, but the terror was very real.

The best thing about Silent Hill wasn't just that it was frightening, though - we got that elsewhere too - but that it was incredibly weird with it. Knife-wielding baby demons? Sure, why not.

Crash Bandicoot

Most of us still don't even know what a bandicoot is, but that doesn't change the fact that we all love Crash Bandicoot's first adventure on PlayStation.

Equal parts fun, challenging and wacky, the orange marsupial's debut set us up for some great games to come. And then some truly terrible ones, but they can be ignored.